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Helen Barff

London
Sculptor based in South London, currently exploring links between autobiographical memory and clothing.

I work with found objects and materials such as felt, plaster, concrete, rubber or photographic surfaces, using processes such as wrapping, casting or other interventions in space and surface. I am interested in how materials are shaped by temporality, or how memory becomes embedded in matter. A sensitivity to touch is central to my practice.

Each series of work indexes a ‘site of memory’ - this may include objects washed up on the Thames foreshore, or a more intimate place such as the inside of clothes. 

The background for my practice is in drawing: There is always a gap in drawing; you can’t look at the subject and the mark on the page at the same time. In that gap perception is retained in memory. I close this gap by bringing the subject in direct contact with the materials. 

 

Untitled (RTS), 2004 - 2014, Matter and Memory at Alison Jacques Gallery

By  Helen Barff

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